I'm a big fan of a stopover. Especially in a hot Middle Eastern country on the way to a European winter. Alex and I were finally off on our first long haul adventure together - a week in Amsterdam and Belgium before crossing the channel to England, to celebrate his Gran's 90th birthday with his family. A two week whirlwind European Adventure!

We landed into Abu Dhabi at 8am and were due to leave at 2am so there was no point booking a hotel room. Not only was it Grand Prix weekend and prices were crazy, we also wanted to be out exploring during the day which meant there wasn't much time for sleeping. Instead we hired a car. Seems like a great idea after a 14 hour flight with no sleep.

First stop was the beach. We were planning on heading to the Corniche, which is a beach and park area in the city, but ended up driving further until we reached Saadiyat Island, where we found a public beach. We spent the morning here, sleeping on the sand and swimming.

Next stop was Emirates Palace, the worlds only seven star hotel built in 2005. Costing six billion US dollars to build, this is the second most expensive building in the world. We felt out of place parking the Chevy Spark hire car between $250,000 worth of sportscars, sand still on our skin.

Wandering through the gardens, helicopters over head, and inside the hotel past the gold ATM, we could get a feel of the decadence and extravagance that the UAE is famous for. Finding a seat in Le Cafe we could get a taste of this extravagence: a 24 carat gold cappuccino. For $15 you can buy a coffee covered in gold. For $40 we could of had a camel burger with a gold dusted bun accompanied with gold coated chickpea fritters.

Next up was the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. We arrived just before 4pm and were asked to stay in the car until prayer finished and visitors were allowed inside. Alex waited for me while I collected a traditional rode, the abaya, and then we spent a couple of hours exploring. It was the most perfect time of day, with the sun setting. The Grand Mosque is a masterpiece of architecture, a spiritual centrepiece of the country and it definitely was the highlight for us.

Abu Dhabi really is the perfect stopover for me. You get sunshine, beaches and something culturally unique. There is probably so much more we could have done, and we might definitely do in the future, but by the time we got the car back to the airport and went through security, we were more than happy with our 18 hours in Abu Dhabi.